Advice to Balanced Training

[That-a-Way]

So I´ve recently realised I am with a lot of free time in my life, and I wanted to invest it in martial arts. I´ve been investigating a little, and I want to train in a lot of them simultaneously. Not in an intensive manner, but rather relaxed and slowly. I´ve been practicing Wing Chun for a while, and it doesn´t seem as effective like other arts or fighting styles. At least when you are a begginer like me.

After my research I´ve thought about this (excuse my poor descriptions of the arts, I hope no one gets offended):

-Muay Thai: For punches and elbows.

-Aikdio: for grabs and locks, etc (maybe Jiujitsu too, or Judo, but I hear they are quite similar).

-Taekwondo: Kicks of course.

-The basics of Ninjutsu and Krav Maga.

Now the question is, should I just focus on more extensive martial arts (Luke KungFu, MMA, Karate, JKD, this one being my favourite) or should I try to learn a bit of the ones I mentioned before?

I would really appreciate your help, I´m a bit lost here. I´m sorry again if I offended someone, and please let me know if I did! Thanks in advance!

 

[kuniggety]

That's a lot of arts. I'm no WC expert but my understanding is that it is a close quarters striking system. If you'd like to complement it with something longer range and harder striking, then either TKD or MT will fit the bill. I think it would serve you best to do one or the other. The same goes for aikido, Judo, and jiu-jitsu. Judo and jiu-jitsu are sibling/cousin arts with some of the concepts carrying over into aikido. Pick one to get your foundation in. I think you've got to narrow down what your goals are in martial arts. From there is where you can both what fits the bill and has quality instruction near you.

 

[That-a-Way]

That's a lot of arts. I'm no WC expert but my understanding is that it is a close quarters striking system. If you'd like to complement it with something longer range and harder striking, then either TKD or MT will fit the bill. I think it would serve you best to do one or the other. The same goes for aikido, Judo, and jiu-jitsu. Judo and jiu-jitsu are sibling/cousin arts with some of the concepts carrying over into aikido. Pick one to get your foundation in. I think you've got to narrow down what your goals are in martial arts. From there is where you can both what fits the bill and has quality instruction near you.

Thanks for the response!

That is truly accurate. Still I am willing to make an etra effort if necessary. Now you are saying that TKD and MT are similar? Isn´t TKD more kick focused and Muay more of a general thing (you know punches, kicks, knees, elbows). Still I see why they could be interchangeable.

I agree I should pick one from Aikido, JJ and Judo. I will decide later. At least that part is settled. What do you think of MMA and JKD? Would it be better just to get into something like that? Or do something like MT/TKD+JJ/Aikido/Judo?

 

[kuniggety]

. Now you are saying that TKD and MT are similar? Isn´t TKD more kick focused and Muay more of a general thing (you know punches, kicks, knees, elbows). Still I see why they could be interchangeable.

Only similar in regards that they both will be teaching you kicking/striking outside of the centerline concept of WC. They are very different.

I agree I should pick one from Aikido, JJ and Judo. I will decide later. At least that part is settled. What do you think of MMA and JKD? Would it be better just to get into something like that? Or do something like MT/TKD+JJ/Aikido/Judo?

I'm a BJJ guy so my opinion is probably distorted.

Take it what you will but I think many would agree that, if you're going to cross-train, then stick to two separate arts (i.e. One striking and one grappling) and get a good foundation in them (i.e. A few years of study) before branching out. I know it sounds kind of exciting to study a bunch of things but it takes folks several years of dedicated study of a single art to really be adept at it and then years more to master it. It'd be like going to college and deciding to major in 6 different things. You're in an engineering class trying to remember how to break down a mathematical formula that you took in a class four years ago because you were taking philosophy and language and fine arts classes in between too.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I´ve been practicing Wing Chun for a while, and it doesn´t seem as effective like other arts or fighting styles

This is just an general truth about Kung Fu. It's not the easiest thing to learn how to fight with but it's not impossible. Much of what you see from other fighting systems are basics (with the exception of BJJ), but everything else in competitive martial arts is just the basics. The difference between you and them is that they learned how to be really good with the basics. If you want to be able to use more of the flashy stuff then you'll need to spar a lot and trust in the technique. You'll fail a lot before you get it right.

Now the question is, should I just focus on more extensive martial arts (Luke KungFu, MMA, Karate, JKD, this one being my favourite) or should I try to learn a bit of the ones I mentioned before?

If you want to learn how to fight using a system then focus on one system at a time. By this I mean learn to fight fairly decent in one system before adding another system to the mix. The reason I say this is because the things that you learn in one system will help you better understand another system. The only exception of this would be if you are training a system that only does striking and a system that only does grappling. In situations like this one system is filling in the gaps of another system. If you were taking something like Kung Fu then it's better to learn the striking and grappling found within kung fu before trying to learn something else. Learning to fighting using karate and kung fu is a challenge within itself. You really have to trust the techniques in the systems to prevent your fighting from looking like basic kickboxing. However, once you learn to actually fight using the advanced techniques in the system then you'll enjoy it and may not even want to train another system. You may just want more of the system that you already train.

To give you an idea of the challenge. People who take karate or kung fu can only fight with less than 5% of what they actually know. This is the norm.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Pick one to get your foundation in.

Totally agree with this.

Now you are saying that TKD and MT are similar? Isn´t TKD more kick focused and Muay more of a general thing (you know punches, kicks, knees, elbows). Still I see why they could be interchangeable.

Even within these systems there are differences. For example, Sports TKD is not the same as self-defense TKD and it's the same with Muay Thai. Sports Muay Thai is not the same as self defense Muay Thai.

So when you are taking a martial, you should be very specific about what focus that martial art system has.

Here are the self-defense focused versions
This is TKD with a self-defense focus. Notice the grappling in it.

This is Muay thai with a self-defense focus. Notice he's doing forms and stuff you don't see in Muay Thai fights

 

[That-a-Way]

Thanks for the responses!

I do know that it is extremely hard and possibly counterproductive to do 2 arts at the same time that focuses on the same. It was a misjudgment on my part to say that TKD was all about kicking, so probably mixing it with MT or Karate is a stupid idea. By the I´m sure as hell missing some of the most important Arts similar to this. Could you name some if you can think of them?

I´m really not a fan of the flashy stuff. My goal is not to look good, jsut to lear self defense and be effective with it.

Those videos... Very interesting indeed. That TKD mostly, extremely interesting. Seems like all Arts have some grappling in there, hidden somewhere, huh? That is very useful.

By the way, JKD seems very similar to Wing. Is there any grappling there?

Much of what you see from other fighting systems are basics (with the exception of BJJ), but everything else in competitive martial arts is just the basics.

What did you mean by this?

 

[WaterGal]

Just pick something convenient to you and go try it. Once you get comfortable with it and are used to having it as part of your schedule, then see if you have time/energy/money to pick up a second art. Don't try to do everything all at once - you'll burn yourself out, and you probably won't make much progress on anything.

 

[That-a-Way]

Just pick something convenient to you and go try it. Once you get comfortable with it and are used to having it as part of your schedule, then see if you have time/energy/money to pick up a second art. Don't try to do everything all at once - you'll burn yourself out, and you probably won't make much progress on anything.

Thanks for the response!

Yeah good idea. What should I try? TKD, MT, Karate, KungFu, please insert recommendation/s here? I´m not trying to get you to tell me which one to do, I jsut want to know what options are out there and research them a little bit before starting! Thanks!

 

[JowGaWolf]

I´m really not a fan of the flashy stuff. My goal is not to look good, jsut to lear self defense and be effective with it.

Martial arts for self defense is not flashy by nature. It's very practical and very ugly in comparison to the flashy martial arts that are done for demos. Martial arts with a self defense focuse looks like a fight and not like what we see in the movies.

JKD has grappling. All Kung fu systems has a grappling component, the problem is finding a teacher within the same system that knows it. The good news is that the kung grappling component is Chin Na and Shuai Jiao. And you can easily find someone that specializes in these areas. It's just difficult to find someone that knows both JKD and the grappling components

What did you mean by this?

What I mean by basics is that compared to the techniques that are done in martial arts forms, the MMA guys use the basics. Low leg kick, side kicks, kicks to the head, front kick, jabs, hooks, looping hooks, upper cuts knees, pound and ground are all basic techniques.
For example: advance karate techniques

Mostly basic strikes and kicks it's the same if you look at mma videos. You'll understand more when you start training.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Thanks for the response!

Yeah good idea. What should I try? TKD, MT, Karate, KungFu, please insert recommendation/s here? I´m not trying to get you to tell me which one to do, I jsut want to know what options are out there and research them a little bit before starting! Thanks!

If you have a Jow Ga school near by then I would say go train there but most likely that won't be an option. That are Choy Li Fut. The only reason is because they have both long range and short range techniques and grappling. Most of these schools actually train to use the techniques in fighting. It'll give you a good foundation in which you can use in other martial systems. For example, with Jow Ga, we have similar techniques that are found in TKD and Karate systems. We have some short range techniques that are similar to what is in Wing Chun. We have knees and elbow strikes that's similar to muay thai. In general traditional kung fu (not wushu) will have 3 or 4 techniques that are in other systems. Branching out from kung fu is more like specialization. Even if you took kung fu for a year, it would give you a deeper understanding for some of the techniques found in other systems. From there you can branch out in MT, Karate, TKD, etc. and be familiar with some of the techniques, even though you didn't study it. There may be variation of how to do the technique, but once you see it, you'll say "that looks like what we did in kung fu."

Kung Fu is risky because there are a lot of schools out there that teach forms competition kung fu and those type of schools are useless to what you have interest in. It's really difficult to find a good kung fu school.

 

[That-a-Way]

So you say that Kung Fu is like the basics of all striking systems? Is Kung Fu good alone? Is there any practical difference between them? I mean I know MT, TKD or Karate are not the same, but in real life, would it make any difference which one you´ve studied? Is there any good source where I can learn the difference between most common arts? You know like books or good blogs? My main problem is that I don´t know what´s out there. For example I didn´t even know there was something called "Jow Ga". If you could direct me to something of that sort I´d be very grateful.Thanks!

What I mean by basics is that compared to the techniques that are done in martial arts forms, the MMA guys use the basics. Low leg kick, side kicks, kicks to the head, front kick, jabs, hooks, looping hooks, upper cuts knees, pound and ground are all basic techniques.

When I asked you what you meant I was thinking of why you exclude BJJ from that category. You said "except from BJJ". Is there anything that makes BJJ so special? I´ve heard everyone in MMA knows at least something about it, like it´s a "must have" skill. Is it really that good?

 

[marques]

I think you should choose one favourite and complement with whatever you want at a given moment, or to choose a good combination of two and focus on that.

If you try to grasp everything at once, it will just be frustrating. And quite use useless for a few decades. Then you may become a martial arts master, but you did nothing else than training MA...

PS: Research what is available to you and visit the school. The instructor, the group or the way they train may be more relevant than the name of the style.

 

[kuniggety]

When I asked you what you meant I was thinking of why you exclude BJJ from that category. You said "except from BJJ". Is there anything that makes BJJ so special? I´ve heard everyone in MMA knows at least something about it, like it´s a "must have" skill. Is it really that good?

I won't speak for JowGaWolf, but can attack your last point. People should have a solution for the grappling range portion of the fight... from contact and to the ground. Catch wrestling, judo, shuai jiao, BJJ, sambo, etc can all fill that niche. BJJ was just popularized because of its early success in the UFC. They've since had folks with catch wrestling and others have great success. BJJ has uniquely specialized itself to answer the question, "what if I'm underneath my opponent?". A series of "guards" have been fleshed out to defend, control, sweep, and our submit an opponent from that bottom position.

 

[WaterGal]

Thanks for the response!

Yeah good idea. What should I try? TKD, MT, Karate, KungFu, please insert recommendation/s here? I´m not trying to get you to tell me which one to do, I jsut want to know what options are out there and research them a little bit before starting! Thanks!

My recommendation is, first, to Google "martial arts school [your town name]", and see what schools are near you and what they teach. Unless you're willing to move somewhere else to train in martial arts, those are the options that are out there for you.

Once you know what's available to you, then you can start your research. If you find a few places near you that look promising, maybe you can post some links to their website on this thread and we can look at them for you give you some thoughts.

However, another thing to keep in mind is that there's a great deal of variation from school to school within a style, as well as between styles. Different schools will use different teaching methods, focus on different aspects of the art, focus more or less on physical exercise, some will have you start sparring on your first day and others will make you wait for a year to spar, etc etc. Some teachers are great and some are terrible. None of those things have to do with the style - they have to do with the instructor(s) at the school.

 

[That-a-Way]

So guys, I´ve been poking around Google Maps for a while and I found a couple of schools here. I have no idea how good they are (The sites are in spanish, sorry about that, hopefully the translator does a good job):

- International WingTsun Organization Association. (Wing academy)

- Japan Karate Association :: JKA :: Welcome to the World Headquarters of Karate (Karate)

- Evolution Academy | Facebook (MMA, JiuJitsu, Kung Fu, Karate, Taekwondo, Kickboxing, Box -sorry about the Facebook page, they don´t seem to have any other website)

- http://www.miyazatodojo.com/concepts (Seems to be Karate)

- http://circuloaikikai.com/circulo-aikikai/ (Aikido)

- https://pakuacordoba.wordpress.com/ (Something called Pa Kua? I really don´t know what that is)

What do you guys think of learning online? With a couple of partners to train and spar with? I know it´s not optimal but in case I can´t find any good schools. Thanks!

 

[marques]

- Pa Kua (Something called Pa Kua? I really don´t know what that is)

What do you guys think of learning online? With a couple of partners to train and spar with? I know it´s not optimal but in case I can´t find any good schools. Thanks!

Pa Kua is NOT Bagua Zhang, the Chinese style, but the pronunciation is similar, if nothing else. And I do not have a good feeling about that... I will not discuss it further because I only had a short contact with one school. Their main website: Pakua Home | International League | Pa-kua Disciplinas

Training by yourself with a few partners? Yes, it is great as a complement. But find a school first. Only 'online' training is the last thing to think about. Furthermore, I will be surprised if a group like that lasts longer...

 

[That-a-Way]

Pa Kua is NOT Bagua Zhang, the Chinese style, but the pronunciation is similar, if nothing else. And I do not have a good feeling about that... I will not discuss it further because I only had a short contact with one school. Their main website: Pakua Home | International League | Pa-kua Disciplinas

The video looks pretty good. The school seems quite similar, since they have archery, Yoga, Relexology. It seems it´s all part of the lifestyle. Will look into it but I´ll probably end up doing something like Wing or Karate.

Training by yourself with a few partners? Yes, it is great as a complement. But find a school first. Only 'online' training is the last thing to think about. Furthermore, I will be surprised if a group like that lasts longer...

True. It´s probably hard to put toghether and easy to sepparate. Seems like a last resort.

 

[drop bear]

Thanks for the response!

That is truly accurate. Still I am willing to make an etra effort if necessary. Now you are saying that TKD and MT are similar? Isn´t TKD more kick focused and Muay more of a general thing (you know punches, kicks, knees, elbows). Still I see why they could be interchangeable.

I agree I should pick one from Aikido, JJ and Judo. I will decide later. At least that part is settled. What do you think of MMA and JKD? Would it be better just to get into something like that? Or do something like MT/TKD+JJ/Aikido/Judo?

What exactly is the end result you want to have?

I do MMA.
MMA is good because it is pretty obvious who the good martial artists are. They are the ones winning competitions. It is also a very inclusive martial art in that you will tend to get exposure from a lot of different systems. And be able to hang with those systems in some manner.

So you do MMA you will find yourself doing BJJ comps or boxing kickboxing. We just had a guy fly to india to compete in Kudo.

People from other styles tend to drop in more and there is a bit of martial arts tourist culture. So wherever you are you can drop in to a MMA gym or BJJ,boxing,wrestling, muay thai, whatever and play around without it being weird.

BJJ is similar in that respect.

So for example you could be this guy just globe trotting the world doing seminars.

Fat Jesus - Chad Wright BJJ - Follow Fat Jesus - Chad Wright BJJ

There is just all this room for expansion and exploration. Which is kind of cool.

 

[That-a-Way]

What exactly is the end result you want to have?

Well basically I want to have a good variety of skills, in case someday I find myself on the floor with a dude on top and I don´t know what the hell to do. Or not to be defensless in a striking match.

Basically be a good overall fighter (I´m not saying becoming Bruce Lee and Ice-T all toghether, but to be decent with every figting style, maybe even with weapons someday!). I just dislike being defensless.

I´ve been investigating and found a good Ninjutsu academy with a reasonable price, and Ninjutsu seems very interesting, with the addition of "Who doesn´t like being like a Ninja?" kind of interesting. What do you think about Ninjutsu?